Blog Entries With Tag: dessert

Okay that title in brackets almost sounds like Gangnam Style – I don’t have many sweet things in the house for after dinner indulgence. I’m not sure if it’s because I’m a diabetic or the way my Mum was (fresh fruit or occasional Betty Crocker mix in it’s own box cake were her favs for us). I just know that sometimes I get that urge to have something I consider sinful (e.g. ice cream is a rarity in my freezer – usually it gets freezer burn as I forget I have some).

So, lately, I’ve been playing around with recipes I’ve found online for making a brownie in a mug. The best one so far, that I came across is from Simply Recipes. It’s a no brainer. The only thing I did with it though – due to the carb count of the ingredients was a) make 1 portion into 2 nice sized treats; and b) go full out with making it gluten free as possible (I’m still new at this – so don’t shout me if there’s a hint of gluten in recipe below).

No, I have not been diagnosed with celiac. Though it seems many Type 1 diabetics are being diagnosed with it (and there’s a new test from Australia that says “ it doesn’t require a month or more of eating gluten or painful intestinal biopsies” along more accuracy of diagnosis). All I know is, that sometimes I’m finding I have a few of the symptoms of possible wheat intolerance – despite not eating masses of bread – and wonder …. am I or am I not allergic to gluten? So far, I’ve had no success in having my endo say yes to testing (some of my T1 diabetics online mates have said I should get it done – even in my later stages of life with diabetes). For now, while I learn to deal with some other new health problems in my life – I just skip along merrily – and deal with having a yummy brownie in a mug that doesn’t make my #BGnow go wacko afterwards and makes me smile!

So with a drum roll …. here’s my easy peasy recipe – that hopefully you will find as yummy as I do. Feel free to play around with the type of flour you want – just like I did. Also, I have made it with 50/50 sugar & Splenda – but that was only when using mixture of wheat/rice flour. It was great – but if I’m going to have something sweet – I might as well go all the way – with the real thing (see my little notes of other sweetners I've used below)!!!

¼ cup sugar (I’ve played around with using Maple Flakes – which is lower in carbs then regular sugar along with added vitamins/minerals in it that are natural. I’ve even used my home made version of lavender sugar ).

2 Tbsp of cocoa (natural, unsweetened)

Pinch of salt (like you’d throw over your shoulder for good luck – careful – not that big a pinch)

Tiny pinch of cinnamon (I love cinnamon!!!)

1/4 cup of water

2 Tbsp canola or vegetable oil (Simply Recipes recommended not to use olive oil due to taste factor - but I have - along with trying it out with Organic Coconut Oil from this company)

Place flour(s), sugar, cocoa, salt, and cinnamon in a small bowl (see pictures). Stir with a fork to mix well. Next add oil, water, and vanilla to bowl. Mix well with a fork until the mixture is smooth and there are no clumps. Take TWO mugs and divide mixture into them. Place in a microwave (I do each one individually) – heat on HIGH for 1 minute. If you go more than 30 secs over – mixture may be too dry. I find 1 minute makes it purrfectly yummy texture – not overly dry – not overly goopy. Of course, this all depends on your microwave! As the original recipe states at Simply Recipes – “it should still be moist when cooked through not dry”. Let cool for a minute and serve with one of the toppings above.

To see a FULL set of pictures of this recipe along with extra descriptiions and tips - go to this link - and promise me - when you get there ...

Last night we got together with friends that we don't see too often. We were celebrating a few birthdays, so I being the dessert maker, made up a nice treat. Only one person in the group is a diabetic (D) like myself, and I saw their eyes bulge out when they saw what I had made, and I could see their nonD wife giving me the evil eye, as if I was going to kill her hubby due to sugar overdose! He's on insulin by the way, so he can "cheat" from time to time like I/we D's do from time to time.

As I was sitting around the table sharing appetizers and chatting up with the guys on all the latest news. I started to realise that I was wishing I was sitting with all my D friends that I've made contact with over the past year. I only started to socialise in D forums recently, and have found them to be a God send for when I'm feeling down or see someone asking for help. I was having an inner struggle inside of myself with feeling the way I was last night. The one thing I realised, everything with that evening was revolving around all the good food that we were eating. Not that this hasn't happened before, I mean food is part of the "social" thing. We had awesome brushetta, orange slices made up with sugar, olive oil and whole black peppers (really GOOD - here's a low sugar version I found) to share and the main course was pasta sauce and meatballs with penne - eccellente!

The only little glitch, I was having to calculate how many carbs in the back of my mind for all the foods/drinks I was cramming into my body and how long to bolus my insulin so my blood sugars wouldn't spike like crazy. I felt sort of a bit strange, telling some of my friends about the carb count in pasta, and my other Dfriend giving me that evil eye of "why are you telling them this?". I guess I just can't shut up about diabetes sometimes - is that bad?

I was wishing at that pointin time that I was surrounded by my diabetic friends that would "get me" (can you hear me Danny?). The ones that know what to do with carb/insulin ratio (my Dfriend doesn't really care - despite my giving him a few books). I was having little thoughts in my head, still listening into my friends of course, but thinking that if we were all diabetic, we'd be sharing some of our stories about diabetes. I've never felt this way before at a get together with nondiabetic friends, and as you can see, it's sort of shocked me to be thinking this way.

So, my question to you, have you ever experienced this feeling before? I'm thinking because I'm more in tune with my diabetes now then I ever was, that this was the reason for why I felt this way.

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